Baghdad Jim McDermott (D-WA) played the “blame yourselves and Bush” card to the conservative panelists testifying on the Hill today about being targeted by Obama’s IRS, and Rep. Ryan (R-WI) was having none of it. The Huffington Post sets it up(bolded emphasis added by me):

“The mistake here was that the staff organizing the organizations used the names of the organizations rather than the work they do and asked improper questions to figure that out,” McDermott said. “It’s clearly wrong. It was inept, stupid and a whole lot of other things. But let’s not get lost. During the Bush administration, liberal groups were targeted without any concern by Mr. Issa or anyone else on this committee. The Republicans were looking for a conspiracy where there isn’t one. Mr. Issa says ‘he can feel it in his gut’ that someone’s broken the law.”

“Just ask yourself which is more likely,” McDermott continued. “That mid-level employees overwhelmed by four-times as many applications as before made stupid, irresponsible shortcuts? Or that there is an administration-wide plot to take down community organizers. Let’s not forget that this happened under an IRS commissioner appointed by George Bush and was investigated by a Republican inspector general.”

McDermott went on to say that while what happened was an “unfair” and “incredibly inconvenient” mistake, he reaffirmed that he had not “heard a single word” about which questions should be asked regarding tax-exempt requests.

“Anything else like the circus that’s happening in the Oversight committee or here is simply political theater,” McDermott said. “It is diverting attention from what we ought to be doing on this committee is re-writing the law if it’s wrong.”

The former vice presidential candidate was up next, and he pivoted from his planned questions to take on McDermott’s assertions. When he announced his departure, those in attendance at the hearing erupted into applause.

Ryan said a few weeks ago former IRS Commissioner Steven Miller told the committee that groups on the other side – identifying themselves by words like “organizing” and “progressive,” for instance – were not subjected to the same treatment.

John Eastman of the National Organization for Marriage told Ryan that he has proof that the IRS broke the law by leaking a list of the organization’s donors to a group that is opposed to their views. He said the group’s donors were then harassed.

“We have not heard any testimony that this is happening to groups that have the opposite views. So to suggest that these citizens are to blame for applying? I don’t understand how anyone can make that conclusion,” said Ryan.

What Ryan went down the panel of conservatives testifying and confirmed one by one what their accusations were against the IRS and what proof they had, which basically torched McDermott’s argument that this wasn’t politically motivated and was like the IRS’ alleged targeting of liberal groups under the Bush administration. My summary of his remarks, however, do not do them justice. Please make sure to watch the video below:

I don’t care what anyone says. I’m d*mned to have a guy like Paul Ryan on our side.

Rep. McDermott was kinda right about one thing, I have to say. It was a bit like political theater today, except he was the actor, playing the role of “concerned politician” while Rep. Ryan was the head-shaking film critic panning the Washington Democrat’s awful and very unconvincing performance. Bravo, Mr. Ryan well done. Please continue to shame them, sir. Shame them all.

Just remember – McDermott and Patty “I’m An Elite But Don’t Understand What That Is” Murray are the best the beautiful state of Washington has to offer. Their combined IQ is probably in the neighborhood of a Californian’s head size (sorry, Phineas, but Californians inevitably have an “I’m a star” complex whenever they go outside their toilet state.)

McDermott, with no proof to back his statements, says that this happened during the Bush administration with no concern by Issa or anyone else on the committee. So what he is basically saying is he personally was worthless and derelict in his duties both then and now. Those testifying brought their documented proof and moving testimony with them.

He also makes the fallacious and threadbare argument that Shulman was a Bush appointee. He was a compromise choice to get Baucus to stop blocking a key peice of legislation. As pointed out yesterday, Shulman’s 25 year tenure as a Civil Service employee started during the Reagan administration. Bush appointee my a*s.

So the new policy with government agencies is that if we are not in agreement with the fundamental transformation of our nation… we only need to give up our 1st Amendment rights and we can have “equality?”

“That mid-level employees overwhelmed by four-times as many applications as before made stupid, irresponsible shortcuts?

How about documenting that claim, Congressman? How about you put the official IRS documents proving that into the record…if you have any proof, that is.

No? Didn’t think so. But then, liberals always have had a problem with numbers and math. Remember when Obama was going around the country promising that Obamacare was going to cut insurance premiums by 2000%?

Two things overlooked by McDermott also. The TEA party did not even exist until it was formed as a reaction to the wildly unpopular Obhammud policy objectives. And the IRS actually processed fewer, not more, applications for tax-exempt status in the influx following its inception.

The drones are claiming that liberal groups were checked on status more often than conservative groups. The problem with that is that the liberal groups’ applications were generally just picked up by the drones, checked for completeness, then approved without investigation.

THAT’S the difference, and one that the pinhead from WA (take your pick of which one) can’t note.